Are efficient LED bulbs worth the price?

Right now I can get a small supply of Philips L Prize 60w Led bulbs at an attractive price. Is it worth switching my home and business over if I already have CFLs installed? The CFLs always seem to burn out early, for some reason. The one I can get is the 9290002097 model no. LED Bulb Test . Any thoughts or reliable calculators? Thanks in advance for your reply! Tom D

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There are places and people where LEDs are already a good fit. But in the home of an energy auditor it is a no brainer. Even if we have to remove older technology in a year or two to test the latest products, this is what we do and we need to have hands on experience with it. When you replace those old heat sink versions, donate them to a worthy cause and take the deduction. They will have another 30 years left in them and a $30 deduction will come close to paying for tomorrows lamps.

Correction noted Curt. It was just a spontaneous suggestion, but there would be many charitable places to send those old lamps if one needed space to begin testing the next generation and charity can be far more rewarding than a deduction :). For our seniors out there it would be heart stopping to spend $20 on a light bulb. They (I) remember when, yada, yada ... I have trouble getting some seniors to switch to a $2 CFL even when it is one that stays on 50% of the time, it's still working. You can be sure that's not all seniors as many are still rather sharp. But others do need help.

Dennis, keep the new information flowing. I miss your constant updates, especially with the pace of this technology.

On the technical side Dennis, can you point me to the circuitry inside these LED lamps. Getting from 120vac to ? volts dc has to be an opportunity for new designs to improve efficiency. If we provided exactly the supply we needed, what would be the lumens per watt, today and tomorrow?

Thanks for the new tech info: Luxeon T . I am not able to purchase one of these yet, so I guess I can continue to test the six L Prize bulbs. In the week I was gone to germany to study Passivhaus, 4 CFLs burn out, and 3 halogen lamps mysteriously went, due to being left on by house sitters. Will report when CR finishes test of L Prize.

Oh, you never want to forget how long a well constructed bulb should last: 110 Year Bulb!

I'm all for Philips ramping their curve as quickly as possible! But no one is going to buy them, as long as an incand is 50 cents, and a cfl is 2$ : Lights Out! .

CR is the ONLY unimpeachable lab in the U.S.! They are no longer anything like the old Consumer Union, and test a wide variety of products that people across all income levels are purchasing. They forget to print that. The results are a little slow, for obvious reasons.

My experience with people who live in houses is that they have no concern about energy efficiency, but just want cheap energy prices! And they are getting that now. As the U.S. becomes the largest energy producer, prices are toppling. Watch out for China, though. They will soon become the largest energy user, the largest economy, and take over world security.